What a girl wants in the movies isn't supposed to be terrifying. For most teenage characters, Fridays are freaky, high school is as fun as American pie, and princess diaries end with "happily ever after.

" Sexuality, confusion and barely controlled ferociousness are seldom addressed - that would be scary, too close to real life. But that's where Evan Rachel Wood is most comfortable. In two films this year - Ron Howard's Old West drama "The Missing," opening Wednesday, and last summer's "Thirteen" - the 16-year-old actress, working in disparate genres, forges two remarkably raw depictions of childhood's end. Tracy, in "Thirteen," is a good kid who goes startlingly bad after befriending a middle-school wild child (Nikki Reed). And Lily in "The Missing," kidnapped by a vicious gang trafficking in virgin captives, becomes part of a violent culture that her mother (Cate Blanchett) must grapple with before Lily can be rescued. While Hilary Duff, Amanda Bynes and the Olsen twins scamper about like camera-ready Barbies, Wood's taste runs to darker stuff. "For teenage actors, [movie roles are] usually fluffy, without a lot going on," says Wood. "That's fun to watch, but those roles don't stick with you. They can be entertaining, but it's not what I'm into. I look for things that might affect people. That's why I'm an actor. That's what I'm looking for.

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" Though in person Wood is poised (if a bit shy), her maturity isn't forced. Growing up in Raleigh, N.

C., where her parents ran an acting school, she began performing onstage when she was 4. "When I was little, I always got along with adults more than I did kids," she says. "I was this little blond girl who thought of myself as their equal. My entire life I've been in an adult world, so I don't get intimidated easily.

" Her parents divorced when Wood was 9, and she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, where she got roles on television ("The West Wing," "Profiler") and in movies ("Practical Magic"). In 1999, she was cast on ABC's lauded but short-lived series "Once and Again," as the daughter of a divorced dad played by Billy Campbell. "Thirteen" director Catherine Hardwicke says that when she saw Wood's clips from that show, "I knew she was it. ... Evan can be so quiet and unassuming that it's almost shocking how much depth she has. It's like an animal bursts out. I think when parents of teens say they're scared by what 'Thirteen' depicts, it's not because of the sexuality - it's the power that Evan unleashes on the screen.

" NOT PLAYING HERSELF Since she was 14 when she filmed the movie, Wood was concerned that audiences would think she was just acting her age, not crafting a character. "I worried that people might think I was really like Tracy," says Wood. "And while I didn't do the things that the girls in 'Thirteen' did, that behavior surrounds me all the time. I didn't need to do any research; I knew girls who were just like that. "I also wondered how the movie would be received, because it's a really different film. I thought people might think it was exploitative, or glamorizing what these girls go through.

" For her role in "The Missing," Wood viewed things from a rougher historical perspective. "Lily is a bit prissy at the beginning. Nobody thinks she could survive what happens to her, and I liked the fact that she proves everybody wrong," Wood says. "She fights to survive in this harsh situation as hard as she can. She finds a strength inside of her.

" Now a junior at an L.

A. high school, Wood can be seen next year in "The Upside of Anger," which stars Kevin Costner and Joan Allen. Meanwhile, she acknowledges that the choices facing a young actress - even a fearless one - aren't easy. "Acting always seemed like a natural thing for me, but I'm in a tricky place," Wood says. "Comedies and silly things totally work for some people, but they're just not me.